Claim
A video of stolen jewellery and gold recovered by Tamil Nadu police is being shared with a false claim that it shows valuables recovered during an income tax raid on Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) board member's house. The Facebook posts are captioned in Telugu as, “He is one of the 16 Dharmakartas from Tirumala Tirupati Balaji Devasthanam in Income Tax Department raids. 128 kg gold, 150 crores cash and 70 crores diamonds were found when the income tax department raided his house. Devotees.. Think about where your money is. How much money does the rest of you have? If you want to donate, do it to the very poor. Do it for the orphans”. (Original text in Telugu: “ఆదాయపన్ను శాఖ దాడుల్లో తిరుమల తిరుపతి బాలాజీ దేవస్థానానికి చెందిన 16 మంది ధర్మకర్తల్లో ఆయన ఒకరు.ఆయన ఇంటిపై ఆదాయపన్ను శాఖ దాడులు చేయగా 128కిలోల బంగారం,150కోట్ల నగదు,70కోట్ల వజ్రాలు దొరికాయి.భక్తులారా..మీ డబ్బు ఎక్కడుందో ఆలోచించండి. మిగిలిన వారి వద్ద ఎంత డబ్బు ఉంది? మీరు దానం చేయాలనుకుంటే, చాలా పేదవారికి చేయండి. అనాథలకు చేయండి.”)
Fact
BOOM had debunked the same video in December, 2021, when it was viral with the same claim. A keyword search on Twitter led us to a December 20, 2021 tweet by News 18 Tamil Nadu's input editor Mahalingam Ponnusamy with a video similar to the viral one. “Vellore district police arrested a burglar, who drilled hole into Vellore Joy Alukkas jewellery store wall, decamped with 15kg gold and diamond jewels." BOOM had then contacted Vellore's Additional Superintendent of Police (ADSP) KS Sundaramoorthy and Joint Superintendent of Police Albert John to get more details about the viral video. Sundaramoorthy confirmed that the claim with the viral video is false. "It is a theft case that took place in Vellore's Joy Alukkas showroom," he told BOOM in 2021. John reiterated the ADSP's statement and added that the stolen jewellery was recovered from a burial ground on December 21. Deccan Chronicle reported on December 9, 2016, that Rs 100 crore in cash and 120 kg of gold was seized during an Income Tax department raid on 'residences and offices owned by TTD Board member J. Sekhar Reddy, who is also a public works department contractor in Chennai and Vellore'.